The sins of Ursula

"We represent half of the population and want our fair share." So the Minister of Defense of Germany and the candidate for the key position in the EU, the aristocrat and mother of seven children Ursula von der Lyain substantiated her initiative: if the head of the European Commission was elected to make a representative office of men and women in this body equal. Now this will be done: von der Layen received 383 votes of the European Parliament deputies with the required minimum of 374. This is a very modest advantage, which can complicate the work of the new head of the European Commission - the “boss (in this case) Europe,” as the owner of this position is sometimes called.

Von der Lyain spoke on Tuesday, July 16, in the European Parliament, at the last moment trying to convince the deputies to support her candidacy for the post of actual EU Prime Minister. Nevertheless, until the last moment it was not clear whether the ally of the German Chancellor Angel Merkel would become the new head of the European Commission. For various reasons, neither the right nor the left were delighted with her candidacy. For the former, she is too much a supporter of European integration and environmental initiatives. For the latter, the “militarist”, despite the rather ambiguous reputation of Mrs. von der Lyaine precisely as the head of the military department of Germany (more on this below).

I was born in Brussels

In addition to other factors, against von der Layen it was said that she became a compromise candidate, who, for example, to believe, for example, the authoritative newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine, the EU leaders - primarily Angel Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron. The newspaper compared the candidacy of von der Lyeen with the advent of a rabbit from a magician hat:

I Hazard to Say @manfredweber Woup Not Hotten This Treatment. #Vonderleyen in Today's @faznet pic.twitter.com/tatjqxesc1

- Matthew Karnitschnig (@mkarnitschnig) July 7, 2019

Who is Ursula von der Layen?

“I was born in Brussels,” this fragile 60-year-old lady began her performance in front of the Eurodutians. Indeed, the approval of the chairman of the European Commission (the actual Cabinet of EU ministers) would become for Ursula von der Layen in a sense a return to childhood. She spent the first 13 years of her life in Brussels, where her father Ernst Albrecht , the offspring of a noble family from Hanover, worked in the apparatus of the very European commission, which his daughter could now lead. Later, Mr. Albrecht for 14 years served as head of the government of the federal land, Lower Saxony.

Some facts of the biography of Ursula von der Layen:

• She has a medical education, although at first she entered the University of Economics in Gettingen.
• In 1980, Ultral terrorists from the Red Army faction were going to kidnap Ursulu to blackmail her father. The girl was urgently taken to London.
• Her husband is a professor-cardiologist Haiko von der Layen, also an aristocrat by origin. They have seven children - two sons and five daughters. The eldest son David is 32 years old, the youngest daughter of Grace - 20.
• Most of the 90s, the von der Layen family spent in the United States, where the husband of Ursula worked. In addition to German, she speaks freely in English and French.
• Since 1990, it has been in the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), of which her father was a member.
• In politics since the late 90s. In 2003–05, she was a member of the Government of Lower Saxony, since 2005 - in the offices of the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Angels Merkel, whose closest employee is. She held the posts of the Minister for Youth and the Minister of Labor, since 2013 - the Minister of Defense.
• In 2010, von der Lyain was considered a possible contender for the post of President of Germany, but in the end the CDS party preferred Christian Wulf , whose presidency ended with a scandalous resignation.

During the NATO summit in Warsaw, in the company of Chancellor Angels Merkel (in the center)

Between love and hostility

Ursula von der Layen belongs to the Social Liberal Wing of the CDU. When being the Minister of Labor and Social Policy, it initiated a program for financing the construction of kindergartens and nurseries, which is considered one of the reasons for the first time in 40 years in Germany began to grow birth rate. Supported a decrease in migration barriers to some categories of foreign workers and specialists. After the migration crisis of 2015, a teenager-refuge from Syria lived in her family for several months.

Family coat of arms von der Lyienov

Ursula von der Lyain became the first woman as Minister of Defense of Germany. At the time of her appointment in 2013, this ministry was considered one of the most problematic. A year later, the commission created by von der Lyaina published a devastating report on the decline of the Bundeswehr - violations in financing the programs of weapons, falling discipline and other troubles. For the reform of the department, the minister began to attract "external" experts and contractors - and this seems to have become her main mistake.

According to the Politico publication, the subject of a parliamentary investigation, which began this summer in the Bundestag, was the excessive expenses of the defense department for services of various kinds of consultants and third -party firms. According to the audit, in 2015 the Ministry of Defense spent about 100 million euros for these purposes, but officially the costs of this article amounted to only 2 million. The gap in 2016 was even more significant: 150 million and less than 3 million euros, respectively.

Ursula von der Layen - a politician sharing German society

According to members of the Parliamentary Committee on Investigations, a group of influential advisers and consultants led by Katrin Zuder, appointed to the key position of the head of the Department of Arms, developed around Ursula von der Lyain. (After the scandal became the property of publicity, Zuder resigned.) However, the technical collection of the Bundeswehr still leaves much to be desired. So, according to the data in the spring of 2018, only 65 of the more than 200 combat aircraft of the German Air Force, 12 of 62 Tiger helicopters, 105 out of 224 Leopard tanks, 5 of 13 frigates and not a single (!) Submarine were in a state of combat readiness.

At the same time, none of the investigations and auditing inspections was called into question the personal honesty of Ursula von der Layen, and the Bundeswehr’s re -equipment program approved by her began to be implemented. Therefore, opinions about her activity as minister are extending .

• Peter Müller , political observer of Spiegel magazine: "Ursula von der Lyain is a politician separating German society. There are people who really like it, but there are a lot of those who sharply criticize it."
• Christian Molling , Deputy Head of the German Council on Foreign Policy: "In general, Ms. von der Lyain did work as the Minister of Defense, deserving a good assessment."

Be that as it may, the “scam with advisers” was worth the minister of popularity and significantly reduced her chances of approval as the head of the European Commission. A campaign was even started on the Internet against its possible Brussels purposes:

Nur fünf sprachen zu sprechen, reicht nicht. ES Kommt Auch Darauf An, Was Man Sagt. #Zensurs #bratraaffäre #vdl #Vonderleyen pic.twitter.com/dzqrw393rq

- Freaky Happy Hopsasa (@ggdiode) July 14, 2019

Von der Lyain announced in advance that from July 17 she would leave the post of Minister of Defense of Germany - regardless of whether it would be elected chairman of the European Commission. This departure nevertheless will not save her from the need to answer unpleasant questions of members of the Bundestag Investigative Commission.

What does she think about Putin and not only?

Speaking on Tuesday to the deputies of the European Parliament, Ursula von der Lyain did not skimp on promises. Moreover, judging by the nature of these promises, she sought to attract sympathy primarily the left parliamentarians. In addition to supporting quotas for women in the European Commission itself and other governing bodies of the EU, von der Lyeen suggested:

• The reform of the EU migration policy - we are talking about the revival in one form or another of the system of distribution of migrants between European countries, against which the states of Central Europe are primarily opposed
• strengthening the general boundary of the European Union, a significant strengthening of its joint border services
• Raising taxes for the largest technological companies operating in Europe
• The reduction in the EU countries by 2030 by 55% (and not by 40%, as planned earlier) of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere.

In foreign policy, as in other matters, von der Lyan is known as a supporter of "Europe who speaks in one voice." She supports the integration initiatives of Emmanuel Macron, does not exclude the possibility of a new transfer of the Brexit date (“if the British side presents convincing arguments in favor of this”), and Vladimir Putin “no longer considers a partner,” although she is not ready to call the enemy of Europe. At one time, von der Lyain condemned the annexation of Crimea and expressed support for the policy of strengthening the "eastern flank of NATO" (bordering Russia bordering Russia). However, she did not support Ukraine's requests for the supply of weapons to her. During a recent visit to Italy, Putin said that von der Lyaine would be able to play a role in normalizing the relations of Russia and the European Union.

Did he mean that the new head of the European Commission will agree to normalization on the terms of the Kremlin, we will apparently find out in a few months. Ursula von der Layen will replace the Luxembourg Jean-Claude Junker as the chief of the European Commission on November 1.